iOS 7 is upon us. Some time midday Wednesday, that little red icon will appear on your Settings app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod; letting you know an update is waiting. This important event must be planned for accordingly and analyzed carefully once executed.

With that in mind, please work your way through our pre and post update checklist so that you can enjoy iOS 7 Day to the fullest.

Backup, Backup, Backup

We have been encouraging our readers to take advantage of iCloud backup since iOS 5. It is simply the best way to preserve your data from loss and prevent yet another social media status update proclaiming “Got a new phone. Text me your number!” It also makes it a breeze to set up a new device.

In the spirit of the Internet, we will simply redirect you to a comprehensive source for backing up your iDevice instead of doing the work ourselves. Whether using iCloud (you should) or syncing manually to your computer, preserving your contacts, calendars, texts, game data, photos, documents, etc. is vital before updating to a new operating system.

iOS updates take space. And let’s face it, you have piles of pictures, vines, and animated gifs cluttering your device. It may be time to sift through that camera roll and delete all the pictures of the back of your hand. Pay attention to text messages as well. Images and Gifs sent via text take up quite a bit of space.

A good purge is healthy every once in a while. Make tonight the night.Hurry Up and Wait

Now it’s time to anxiously await that notification to come in. Instead of staring at your device non stop until that blessed moment (guilty), make sure you are connected to a good strong wifi or plugged in to your computer via your USB cord. Any interruption during the updating process can lead to a mess that even tech savvy people dread.

When that icon does appear, tap on your Settings app, then General, then Software Update. You’re now a click and a wait away from a brand new phone.

Take a Deep Breath and Dive In

This is going to be fun and frustrating. Many things you are familiar with on your iDevice will be different. But it’s worth exploring. To ease the pain, we will walk you through a few new features and new icons.

Most of the stock icons got a new coat of paint. Below is a graphic to help explain:

Courtesy applenapps.com

Now that you’re comfortable with the icons. Let’s discover some new features.

Now that you have an app open, double click the home button to bring up the new multitasking window. These live views of your open apps can be scrolled through, tapped to open, and flicked away to close.

Head into the Photos App and take a look at the new layout. iOS 7 groups your photos by location and date to help manage the endless stream of food pictures in your camera roll. You can even zoom out to the year view with just a pinch.

Select an image and you can share it in several different ways by tapping the share button at the bottom of the screen (box with an arrow pointing up). That will take you to the new Share Sheet where you can send it to Facebook, Twitter, Mail, Messages, Flickr, etc. You also have an option to share via AirDrop. With AirDrop, anyone who has an iPhone near you becomes a tappable contact. Simply tap their name or photo and the photo will be shared instantly.

There are many more features we will leave you to explore on your own. Siri, iTunes Radio, and Safari would be good places to start. Let us know your favorite features in the comments below.

A Word of Caution

With any new overhaul, some third part apps won’t work like you remember. In some cases they may be non functional until the developer pushes the update to the App Store (did we mention your Apps update automatically now?). Be patient as developers update their apps. And in the meantime, if you absolutely can’t function at work or school without a certain app, check to see that it is updated in the App Store before transitioning to the new operating system.

I hate moving. In my adult life I have moved domiciles 8 times in 15 years. Packing boxes, filling nail holes and painting, and using advanced geometry to figure out how to squeeze the couch out the front door slowly kills part of my soul with each moving truck that shows up in front of my current residence. In many ways it would be easier just to sell everything you own with the house and start from scratch. But no one wants your blender or mattress. They might need a couch but they don’t want yours. And there’s still the issue of your clothes, CDs, DVDs, photo albums, toiletries, etc. These are things you would never leave behind. Why would you? You’ve worked hard and spent a lot of time and money to find your music and movies, pick out your clothing, curate your photos, and organize your life.

So the question becomes, “Why would you do this with your smartphone/tablet?”

There are a lot of obvious criteria used when someone is looking for a new smartphone or tablet. Oftentimes it boils down to wanting the newest or cheapest device. Maybe you like having the device everyone is talking about. Or it’s time for a new phone and you can save a little money by going with a different brand. These are very valid concerns but they fail to acknowledge a (not so) new and growing facet of our digital lives: data portability.

Take a minute to look at your smartphone. How many apps do you have? What movies, music, or tv shows have you purchased? What pictures on your phone could you not stand to lose? When it’s time for a new device, are you willing to throw it all away? Though Microsoft and Google are working feverishly to solve this problem, their business models get in the way. With each new handset comes different hardware capabilities and carrier restrictions. Some of your data can be moved from one device to another but much of it will be lost. A lot of your apps won’t work on your new device because of screen resolution or changes to the operating system. There are solutions for moving photos, contacts, and music but they are rarely easy or intuitive. It’s not like packing up your house and moving somewhere new. In fact, this more closely equates to bulldozing your house with everything in it and starting over from scratch.

Now imagine buying a new home and the moment you’re handed the keys, you walk in, turn on the lights and all of your stuff is already there. The furniture arranged, cabinets full, photos, CDs, DVDs, and clothes all organized exactly as you had them in the old place. No packing, hauling, loading, cramming, and certainly no trashing.

The only platform that allows for this simplicity is Apple. Moving from one Apple device to another is virtually seamless. Yes, Apple to Apple. Moving from Android or Windows Phone to an Apple device will not afford the same luxuries. Then again, moving from Android to Android won’t either. There are faults with the closed Apple ecosystem but this is not one of them. Once you’re part of it, you will never lose those things which you’ve purchased, downloaded, or stored. If your device is lost, stolen, drowned, or crushed, you’ll simply login to your new Apple device and carry on with your life like nothing ever happened. That alone makes platform loyalty virtually necessary. But there are more benefits still.

Few of us have second houses or weekend cabins but, more and more, we have secondary devices. For those who have had the privilege of vacationing or staying away from home for a weekend or longer, you know how difficult it is to replicate your lifestyle while away from your home. There are things you can’t bring with you, different surroundings with which to acclimate, etc. Your tablet doesn’t have to behave that way. Apple makes it easy to have all of your music, movies, books, tv shows, photos, contacts, and more right on your iPad with no effort from you whatsoever. Every App you’ve ever purchased for your iPhone is available on your iPad as well. Many times in a much better experience.

If you already own an iPhone or iPod touch, there is absolutely no sense in purchasing a tablet that isn’t an iPad. You’ll only end up spending more money to populate your Android, Amazon, or Windows tablet with the apps you like from your iPhone (if they’re even available). Are some of those tablets cheaper? Absolutely. But you’ll more than make up the difference in the content you have to repurchase.

In the heat of the purchasing moment, sometimes it seems easier to go with what is cheaper, newer, or different. There are other considerations you must address, however. Do you hate having to salvage your contacts every time you change phones? Is moving your music, photos, and videos to your new device always a hassle? Does your heart hurt a little when you have to repurchase that app you like so much because it doesn’t work on your new device? Save yourself the heartache, hassle, and the money.

The excitement of a new house is quickly supplanted by the daunting task of packing, salvaging, buying new things, and, yes, trashing that which can’t come with you. And while these are necessary evils with moving, they don’t have to be when it comes to your smartphone and tablet.

Well, that is the goal anyway. Today, Apple releases upon the world it’s smaller, lighter, cheaper iPad mini with the intention of making the iPad the tablet of choice no matter the thickness of your wallet. Whether you have $300 or $800 to spend, there’s now an iPad for you.

We’re going to do our best to convince the boss to let us try this out for ourselves. For the time being, however, here’s a rundown of the overwhelmingly positive reviews from the major tech news outlets.

There’s no tablet in this size range that’s as beautifully constructed, works as flawlessly, or has such an incredible software selection. Would I prefer a higher-res display? Certainly. Would I trade it for the app selection or hardware design? For the consistency and smoothness of its software, or reliability of its battery? Absolutely not. And as someone who’s been living with (and loving) Google’s Nexus 7 tablet for a few months, I don’t say that lightly.

It also seems optimized for kids. My almost-nine-year-old son loves the size and weight of the Mini. Reading apps may not be computationally taxing, but games are, and there is no compromise in the iPad Mini’s performance. In both the Geekbench and SunSpider benchmarks, the Mini performs identically to the iPad 3 — about 750 in Geekbench (where bigger means faster) and 1,450ms in SunSpider (where lower times are faster).3 The new iPad 4 blows those numbers away (1,750 Geekbench, 850ms SunSpider), but I’d say iPad 3-caliber performance in a $329 radically smaller device is pretty good. I was not expecting iPad 3 performance in the Mini. But it’s there, and that makes the iPad Mini great for games. I think there are going to be a staggering number of iPad Minis in Santa’s sack this year.

The iPad mini has been rumored for nearly as long as the original iPad has existed, but it wasn’t clear early on how many of those rumors were based on fact and how many were based on hope. Hope, that was, for a smaller, more portable tablet that would bring access to all the Apple ecosystem had to offer, in a package you could easily hold in one hand. Specifically, a package more affordable than the 10-incher.

That’s this, the 7.9-inch, $329 iPad mini that sports a screen with the same resolution as the iPad 2 — only smaller. As we put this one through its paces it quickly became clear that this is far more than a cheaper, smaller iPad. This is a thinner, lighter device that deserves independent consideration. In many ways, it’s actually better than the 10-inch slate from which it was born.

In shrinking the iconic iPad, Apple has pulled off an impressive feat. It has managed to create a tablet that’s notably thinner and lighter than the leading small competitors with 7-inch screens, while squeezing in a significantly roomier 7.9-inch display. And it has shunned the plastic construction used in its smaller rivals to retain the iPad’s sturdier aluminum and glass body.

In the end, it’s about an overall package, an experience which Apple is offering. Not the fastest tablet, nor the cheapest, nor the one that prioritizes the most pixel-dense display, but the one with the lion’s share of tablet applications, the integration with the iOS/iTunes ecosystem, the familiarity of usability and, yes, the brand cachet. That’s a compelling metric by which to judge a new product, and it’s a set of abilities that single the iPad mini out in the marketplace. If the iPad with Retina display is the flagship of Apple’s tablet range, then the iPad mini is the everyman model, and it’s one that will deservedly sell very well.

After a few days I started to prefer the mini to my larger iPad despite its lack of a Retina screen. It even made my larger iPad look old fashioned. Awkwardly large. The mini is fast, impressively light — weighing in at just over 10 ounces — and easy to keep with me at all times.

You’ve probably heard that the iPhone 5 has been unleashed on the public. After all, no device grabs the national spotlight like a new Apple gadget. Fans of competing smartphone platforms are offended by this national coverage the iPhone receives. Regardless of the fact that Apple created the modern smartphone market, these naysayers take to the tech message boards, twitter, and Facebook to remind people just how awesome their phone is and how stupid people are for buying an iPhone. “iSheep” they call them; people who buy an Apple product no matter what. It doesn’t register for many that the system is to blame. There are, quite literally, upwards of 100 android phones released per year. One new iPhone is obviously going to garner attention.

In reality, the onslaught of android and windows phones that hit the market have numbed our senses to what a phone can and should do; what it should or shouldn’t have. Insignificant, gimmicky features are highlighted in order to differentiate one phone company from another. A new release every 2-3 weeks clutters the carrier shelves with a confusing mess of screen sizes, colors, operating systems, custom skins, and worthless extras. It also means there’s no anticipation for the next great android device; no pent up demand or excitement.

So, of course, Apple’s offering is going to cause a stir. But just like a celebrity in a bathing suit on vacation, the spotlight brings this single, yearly release an immense amount of scrutiny. Rest assured fellow iSheep, even under the blinding glow of national attention and tech bloggers eager to find fault, the iPhone 5 does not disappoint.

Fashion Forward

One of the chief complaints of contrarian techies is the notion that the iPhone is a status symbol. Their contention is that the only reason to own one is to pretend you’re cool. This coincides with the geek mentality of ostracization and self importance; to them, whatever is mainstream is inferior to their far more sophisticated or educated choice. If you come upon one discrediting the new phone for it’s lack of innovation and vain design sense, ignore them. The newest iPhone is both beautiful to behold and an amazing piece of innovative hardware.

In a world where the newest Windows and android phones race to make the biggest screen, highest megapixel cameras, or strange new material backing, Apple continues to ask why. Every decision put into the new iPhone has been carefully scrutinized for both function and form. The iPhone 5 screen is bigger, but not so much that you have to use two hands to use it. It’s thinner but still maintains a high end feel with it’s balanced weight and premium materials. The camera is as good as any other currently available in a smartphone but without having to make a bulbous outcrop on the back of the phone. It’s extremely light but not made out of flimsy plastic.

And on top of all that, it’s, without question, the most stylish phone on the market; reminiscent of a high end watch or piece of jewelry. Are there other phones with bigger screens? Sure. You also can’t use them with one hand. Is there a thinner phone on the market? Yep, at least in part of the phone. It also comes with a huge wart of a camera. A lighter phone? Indeed , made of a cheap feeling plastic. The iPhone 5 is the complete package: thin, light, gorgeous screen, great camera, and sexy.

Blazin’

Apple takes its time when deciding which technologies are right for their devices. At the same time, they continually push the envelope when it comes to technology they control. This has never been more apparent than in the newest iPhone.

LTE has been part of the smartphone world for nearly two years. This ridiculously fast cellular standard allows for near instantaneous page loading and song downloading. On the surface, this sounds like something Apple should have introduced as soon as possible. But there’s always been a trade off. LTE equipped phones have notoriously poor battery life. In fact, one of the many reasons android and Windows phones have been ballooning in screen size is to accommodate larger batteries for the power hungry LTE chips. Apple was unwilling to make this compromise. By waiting till the technology evolved, Apple is now capable of adding LTE to the iPhone 5 while keeping the phone thin and light. They have also managed to harness the power of LTE without sacrificing any of the iPhone’s great battery life.

On the other hand, Apple controls it’s own processor design. The iPhone has always done more with less in terms of processor speed. But with the iPhone 5, they’ve taken it a step (or two) further. The processor inside the new iPhone is a completely custom architecture. Whereas other companies use standardized chips coming from Intel or based on standard ARM designs, Apple makes it’s own design. The result is a chip faster and more power efficient than any other chip in the mobile sector. In fact, the iPhone 5 is more powerful than Apple laptops from 5 years ago. It is the most powerful pocket computer on the planet.

Much Ado About Nothing

Without fail, there is always something for the media and technorati to latch onto as the downfall of the iPhone and Apple. This year it’s Maps. Much has been said as to the reasons behind Apple dumping Google for it’s own mapping service. What it boils down to is competition. Apple wanted to add more functionality to Maps. Turn by Turn navigation and vector scaling (faster loading) map tiles were musts for the newest iPhone. And while turn by turn and other features exist on android phones, Google was unwilling to let Apple utilize those features in the existing Maps application. Could Apple have kept Google Maps AND introduced their own? Sure. But where’s the fun in that? By cutting Google out of iOS, they have essentially taken $2 Billion in revenue away from Google in a single software update.

Apple’s new Maps app is entirely driven by Apple. And no, it’s not perfect. Google has been developing it’s mapping data for more than 7 years. They have hundreds of millions of businesses in their database. Apple is now on day 10. But even in those 10 days it’s gotten better. Some have pointed out the inaccuracies as if they were cause to shut the entire service down. In reality, most people won’t notice. Even Google maps has issues finding certain places from time to time. If the new Apple maps gives you a bad location or the wrong directions, just send in a report from the Maps app. It will help grow the platform and improve it.

Real world testing by ApplEvangelist has only unearthed two issues. One was inaccurate directions (to an Apple Store no less) and a missing business location. With a couple of taps, we reported the issues to Apple and I’m sure they will be added to their database soon. The Maps are beautifully rendered and clean to look at. They load quickly and require no reloading when you zoom in or out. Traffic information is getting better each and every day and we can’t tell you how great it is to have accident reports right on the Maps app. With one tap you can see where an accident is and which lanes it’s blocking. Turn by turn with Siri integration is phenomenal and you have the added peace of mind that Google isn’t tracking your location.

The Checkboxes

What about everything else? We’re already at 1300 words so we’ll make this quick:

Siri is better. It now can access sport scores, movie times, open apps, and reserve a table at a restaurant.

Facebook joins Twitter baked into the OS. You can now post to Facebook using Siri or the notification center. Contacts and calendars can be synced as well.

Every App you have on your current iOS device will work, even on the larger screen.

Movies and games look great without the letter boxing found on earlier iPhone models.

The new Do Not Disturb feature allows you to silence notifications while you sleep or are in a meeting.

Panorama mode on the camera works flawlessly and is so simple.

You can now simultaneously take still images while shooting a video with the phone.

The new Lightning Dock connector is ridiculously small and easy to insert even in the dark (it’s reversible).

iCloud makes it so easy to set up a new phone. Literally only took 2 minutes to activate our new phones and have all our settings, contacts, calendar entries, texts, etc restored from our old devices.

You can now have any iMessage, regardless of whether it’s sent to your phone number or email address, show up on your other devices. We now receive texts to our phone number on our iPad and Mac. Such a great feature.

Put It All Together

In the end, it’s a much better iPhone. It’s new, yet familiar. Comfortable but cutting edge. Nothing has changed about an already solid operating system. It’s still immensely powerful and highly intuitive. It’s the most sophisticated phone on the market and the sexiest phone around.

Should you upgrade? We upgraded from a 4S because we wanted faster LTE speeds, larger screen, and the hottest phone available. But if that’s not important to you, everything else is available in the iOS 6 update. However, you’ll notice an amazing difference if upgrading from an iPhone 4 or lower. And once you do, you’ll never know how you ever lived without it.

Personal computing is coming to a crossroads of sorts. With the rapid adoption of the iPad, many manufacturers are clamoring to introduce tablets. There is something very empowering and somewhat surreal about holding a slab of metal and glass in your hand and being able to accomplish so much. The same can be accomplished with an even smaller piece of glass known as your smartphone. These devices are becoming so pervasive that entire corporations have sprung up in their wake. But this movement hasn’t obsoleted the laptop and desktop market, yet. Almost everyone still needs a computer to slog out the heavy tasks like your taxes, video editing, dissertations, etc. But as our lives become ever more connected and centered more and more around appliance like devices (smartphones, tablets), a need has arisen for solutions that coagulate our digital life; a way to insure interoperability and create a single digital life accessible through different devices: phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop.

The two heavy hitters in laptop/desktop operating systems are, and always have been, Microsoft and Apple. For 30 years each has been trying to differentiate itself from the other ( Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS) and only now is there a clear distinction between brands. Windows has been the dominant desktop/office work environment for a vast majority of that 30 years. Mac OS has been relegated to the operating system of choice for creative professionals (hollywood, magazines, etc) during that time. But with the advent of the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010, Apple has captured the heart and mind of many, many people throughout the world. Since 2007 alone, Apple has sold nearly 350 Million iOS devices.

And while Apple has begun to see more interest in their laptop/desktop machines as a result of their iOS device popularity, Microsoft keeps chugging along, maintaining it monumental lead in that category. After all, most businesses still use Windows despite it’s flaws. So many programs are Windows specific that businesses for many years were forced to stick with Microsoft. And thus, because of familiarity, most home computers purchased were of the Windows variety.

But familiarity has changed. Mobile computing is the future. Now, most families in the US have at least one iOS device in their house. Everyone from toddlers to centenarians can pick up an iPhone or iPad and immediately know how to use it. Many tasks, once only achievable on a desktop or laptop, have robust, intuitive solutions on your iOS device.

So that leave the average consumer at a crossroads. Many people are familiar with Windows. Many are becoming more and more familiar with iOS. It’s not uncommon to see a family home with multiple iPhones, iPods, and iPads along side a Windows laptop or desktop. And while you can certainly be productive in this setup, most don’t realize how much more fluid and connected your digital life can be by going all in with one company or the other.

In the interest of full disclosure, we will (obviously) be highlighting why you should jump head first into a holy wholly Apple life. Microsoft, as well, is working on a way to merge your digital experiences across tablets and traditional PC’s with Windows 8. Microsoft believes you can have the same desktop software on your tablet but with a pretty skin that makes it more intuitive to use. Many have found fault in this strategy. The problem is it doesn’t solve any real problems, has few solutions for how your data is synced, isn’t released yet, and no one knows how much it will cost you.

Apple’s strategy is to maintain a distinct difference between your tablet and laptop/desktop experiences while giving you the familiarity of iOS applications and syncing your data across all of your devices. This allows you to have your entire digital life with you wherever you go; on your laptop/desktop, iPhone, and iPad. With the release of Apple’s latest operating system, Mountain Lion, anyone familiar with an iOS device can take the plunge into an Apple laptop or desktop with little to learn.

The screenshot you see above is from my personal Mac. If you have an iPhone or iPad but have never used a Mac, you’ll notice some very familiar things here. Only two of the icons above should be unfamiliar. From left to right we have icons for, the App Store, Mission Control, Safari Web Browser, Calendars, Reminders, Notes, iTunes, Messages, and TweetBot. If you use the official Twitter app on your iOS device, that icon would look familiar, too, if I were using that instead. In fact, many things you’re familiar with on iOS look similar on a Mac. With a pinch of your fingers, a Mac screen even looks like your iPad or iPhone.

You should recognize many of these icons, as well: Contacts, FaceTime, GameCenter, Dropbox, etc. Garageband, Photo Booth, and the the entire iWork suite are there, as well, hiding inside iOS-like folders.

The idea here is to make you feel comfortable with the experience. Yes, there are several other things about how a Mac operates that are different than a Windows machine. However, they are very easy to learn and make your computing experience easier.

Familiarity is good. It makes us feel comfortable. But it doesn’t really do anything to put the pieces of our digital life together. There in lies the magic of Apple’s newest OS. Mountain Lion, with the help of iCloud, works in the background to sync all of your data between your devices. Yes, that iCloud. It sounds familiar because you were prompted to create an account the last time you bought a new iPhone or upgraded the software. We’ve posted about iCloud numerous times here at ApplEvangelist.com. And while we’ve babbled on and on about how great it is, it’s hard to understand it without seeing it in person.

Let’s start with the easy stuff. That contacts icon you see on your iOS device and on the Mac screenshot above? They contain the same information. I didn’t have to do anything (besides being signed in to iCloud). My calendar on my iPhone contains the same info on my iPad and my Mac. And they stay in sync no matter which device I add an event on.

Above are the calendars (or snippets of) on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac, respectively. Though the iPad and Mac are scaled down, you can still note that the same events are appearing on all three devices.

If you’re a note taker, those sync, too.

Above: iPhone, iPad, and Mac Notes all synced. A note created on my iPad appears on my Mac and iPhone.

While these things are great for small items like notes, calendars, reminders, and contacts, the real functionality comes with it’s integration into Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. These are full, robust applications. You can create very impressive documents and presentations on your Mac. And now they are seamlessly available on any of your other devices. Below are screenshots from Pages (Apple’s word processing app) on my iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Documents can be created or updated from any device and they’re immediately made available on all of your other devices.

Apple has also introduced Messaging for Mac. Now you can get text messages while at your computer. Anytime someone texts you from an iOS 5 device, that text appears on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Chatting with someone at the computer and need to run an errand? Just pick up your iPhone and continue the conversation there.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on what you can accomplish by weaving your digital life around Apple devices. And Mountain Lion does more than just that. With the right settings, Gatekeeper for your Mac insures that you’ll never get a virus. Notification Center pulls all your notifications from Messages, Mail, Calendars, Twitter, Facebook (coming soon), etc. into one place for you to see. You can share a webpage or picture straight to twitter or into a message. Later this year you’ll be able to update your Facebook status without even navigating to the webpage. As well, you can AirPlay mirror your laptop or desktop screen to an AppleTV connected TV. Want to cut your cable package? This is the way to do it. Anything you can watch online is instantly available on your big screen with AirPlay. YouTube user AppleNApps has made a good demo of how to cut the cord with AirPlay.

Mountain Lion is a fantastic upgrade for anyone with a Mac (newer than 2008). $20 gets you all of these updates. But this newest operating system is for you, the Windows user needing to buy a new laptop or desktop soon. You probably already have an iPhone or iPad. The Mac is the next step. It couldn’t be easier. And you won’t regret it.

Like this:

Much is made of the downfall of future generations at the hands of technology. “TV, video games, and computers have created a generation of pasty, thoughtless, and lazy children” so they say. Gone are the days of getting dirty outside while pouring salt on snails and hours of entertainment reading the encyclopedia.

Wait. What? There are certainly many wonderful things for kids to learn playing outside or reading the encyclopedia, but that doesn’t, itself, damn technology entirely. That being said, TV and video games are mindless entertainment. Despite how “educational” these shows are, there is little in the way of interactive content that requires imagination and thought in the world of TV, Xbox, playstation, etc. Similarly, an iPad — often used as a portable TV and video game console — could very much serve to sedate the minds of small children whose parents have no better discipline strategies.

The point of contention for most child development and educational purists lies with the issue of natural discovery. For hundreds of years, children’s real world experiences inspired their intellectual curiosity. A child’s imagination might be peeked gazing into the heavens or exploring a wooded area. This has not changed. Children have not changed. Allowing them to plop down at will in front of the TV for cartoons or video games is definitely detrimental. But this isn’t a result of the technology itself. It’s a result of how we utilize the technology. Current television content makes it a passive, thoughtless medium. Today’s video games, even those billed as educational, still ignore the element of discovery. To some an iPad might seem like a similar distraction in the hands of a young learner. In all actuality, utilized correctly, the iPad could usher in an entirely new and robust age of discovery.

What traits does the iPad possess that distinguish it as a powerful educational tool?

With the iPad you have a world’s worth of reference materials at your fingertips in an ultimately portable device. Every major reference is available through safari or as a standalone app. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauruses, academic papers, university resources, etc. all in one device that weighs barely more than a pound. Apple has made it a point to provide models for usability; allowing developers to present even the most mundane of content in beautiful and intuitive ways. They have even built certain references right into the iPad’s software. A child reading an article, book, website, or app on their iPad can simply hold their finger on any word they don’t understand and get a definition.

Though still in its infancy, all five major textbook publishers have committed to providing digital versions of their titles, each at an affordable price of $14.99 or less for K-12. These aren’t simply the current texts in digital form. Textbook publishers are embedding videos, interactive widgets, customizable study cards, and quizzes with real time assessment right into the text. In many cases this makes what could be confusing or boring material come alive. And because Apple has provided powerful creation tools, there is no limit to what can be provided in these textbooks. Additionally, because they are in digital form, the text are never out of date if the publisher chooses to update them. Currently, the most popular textbooks used throughout the United States are available in the textbooks section of iBooks, but more are being added each month.

The wealth of applications designed specifically for the iPad essentially turn the device into the ultimate discovery tool. Apps for astronomy, chemistry, botany, mathematics, physics, entomology, and geology are just a few of the ways to turn an iPad into a specialized instrument for study and discovery.

Learning about the universe? Star Walk is a beautiful app that uses your location and the built in gyroscope to identify the stars you are seeing in the sky. Simply hold the iPad up to the sky and the app labels the stars, constellations, planets, and even satellites that you see. Tapping on any object will give you even more information and resources for study.

Learning about wildlife? Project Noah is an app designed to document the plants and animals you see in the wild. Teachers and students can share their findings and even join worldwide missions to complete objectives.

Vernier Video Physics allows students to video an object in motion, mark it’s position frame by frame, and set up a scale using a known distance. The app then draws trajectory, position, and velocity graphs.

These are but a few of the astounding apps built for students and teachers. Every grade level is represented in the iBooks and App Stores; from memory games and apps to practice writing the alphabet to apps that turn the iPad into a scientific and graphing calculator, there are resources for all levels of students and teachers.

Discovery is only part of the equation, however. With the new iTunes U app for iPad and iPhone, teachers can distribute digital handouts, reading assignments, presentations, app suggestions, and even messages from the teacher to students enrolled in their class. Students receive a push notification when messages or new materials are posted and they can then check off assignments completed to help keep them organized and current in their class.

Everyday a new technology comes along to replace something that was once accomplished by man either physically or mentally. The mundane information we were once required to hold onto (phone numbers, etc.) have been replaced simply by a name and picture in a list. Calculations once scrolled on blackboards are now solved in milliseconds. And, yes, where once a child’s imagination had to keep them entertained, a glass screen now offers them a ready made solution for their boredom, no imagination required. But this is in no way the fault of the technology itself, but, rather, how we use it.

While some mediums created by technology will continue to render down the minds of the world’s youth into goo, the iPad lights the way for those seeking to embrace the new and exciting prospects of digital discovery. The iPad does not shut the mind of its user behind a wall of mindless noise. It opens a world of possibilities.

Seamless. Smooth. Two words you’ll never hear associated with the still emerging, yet overly marketed cloud service offerings from, well, just about every major tech company. Now there’s nothing wrong with marketing cloud services. In reality, cloud storage is the future (and present); your pictures, music, files, etc. stored in the cloud for you to access from any device. The problem is the price: you’ll need to go back to school and get a computer science degree to make it all work.

Okay, thats definitely a bit of hyperbole. Truth be told, we are all getting to a point of familiarity and comfort with mobile computing. We are all capable of using applications to manage files, upload pictures and music, etc. But who wants to? You don’t have time to upload your music, figure out which apps you can use to view your PDFs, how to access that movie you bought on your computer, pick up a game on your tablet that you started on your phone, or find those pictures you took with your phone last week.

Think of it like this: its perfectly normal to expect your debit card to work anytime you swipe it (provided you have money). When you travel to another city or state, you don’t have to do anything in order to use your money. Nothing changes from store to store. It just works. You don’t have to think about it and can rest assured that it won’t fail you.

The “Cloud”, in it’s current state, doesn’t work like this. Sure, you can get your files into the cloud but, in most cases, you’ll have to go find them. It operates much like the hard drive In your computer: you know you saved that file somewhere but finding it is another story.

Apple’s current solution isn’t perfect, but the guiding principles look nothing like the competition. It’s predicated on the notion of having compatible app counterparts on all your devices. iMovie for iPhone, iPad, and the Mac, for example, essentially become extensions of one another. Content created or managed by that particular app is available on any of your other devices instantly. The files are visible on each of your devices so there is no hunting for it in some nebulous ether. Yes, there are certain limitations (Mac functionality doesn’t arrive till the fall), but the pros out weigh the cons; especially for anyone who already has an Apple device.

There’s no better example of this than the way Apple handles music and photos over multiple devices. Apple’s iTunes Match is a dead simple way to access every music file in your library from any Apple device. Just click the Match link in iTunes and Apple scans your library, matches what files exists on Apple’s servers and then uploads the rest. Even personal recordings are visible on all your devices without having to manually sync them. And you only have to do it once. Buy new music or rip a cd to your iTunes library and Apple automatically matches or uploads it. You don’t have to do or think about anything.

Photos work similarly. Just toggle PhotoStream on all your devices to on and you don’t have to do anything else. Every picture you snap with your phone or iPad save automatically to your desktop or laptop. iPhoto on the iPad and iPhone also seamlessly ties into PhotoStream. Open iPhoto and you can immediately see any picture taken on any device. Edit that picture and it is reflected on all your devices.

When Mountain Lion for Mac is released later this year, the same functionality will come to Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. You’ll be able to start a document on your laptop and immediately have it available to those same apps on your iPhone or iPad. This already works between an iPhone and iPad. On the go? All of your documents will be mirrored to any device for you to access at anytime.

Apple has also made the feature available for any developer who wants to bake it into their app, as well. In the future you’ll be able to manage all of your apps this way including starting a game on one device and resuming on another.

Google, Amazon, and Microsoft’s offerings are fundamentally different. And for some it works: micro managing their files; constantly tweaking how you access them on different devices. Any file you want stored in the cloud must be uploaded individually. Even those that offer true cloud-based file creation can’t offer the same robust tools as native, local apps on a phone, tablet, or computer.
In all honesty it’s a more flexible system but requires an immensely larger amount of time and technological acuity. Seamless it is not.

Currently, Apple offers the smoothest, most well-integrated experience. Sure, it works best if you have multiple Apple devices but there’s a good chance you’re well on your way to that. A majority of US homes already own at least one Apple device and with the popularity of the iPad and growing interest in the Mac, it’s only a matter of time before most households will be looking for a solution to integrate them. Apple has a unique, robust, and, most importantly, seamless solution. It is a different way of thinking about file management and cloud storage and it may just be the future of computing.